An Icy Relationship Undergoes a Thaw

Katarina Witt, the 23-year-old East German figure skating star of the Calgary Winter Olympics, appeared in the United States recently and talked about her once-strained relationship with American Debi Thomas.

Witt told Christine Brennan of the Washington Post that she hardly sees Thomas now. The last time they were together was in Garmisch, Partenkirchen, West Germany, in January for a skating show, Witt said. They were friendly to each other, Witt said, not antagonistic, as they were in Calgary.

“I think her personality changed a little bit and we have a good friendship now,” Witt said. “It’s just because we’re not competing against each other now.”

Witt said the friction between her and Thomas that boiled over on the Olympic victory stand when Thomas failed to congratulate Witt wasn’t all Thomas’ fault.

“The problem was her coach (Alex McGowan),” Witt said. “That’s why it wasn’t easy for her to handle the pressure, but she changed, too.”

Frozen assets: Witt has a $3-million-plus contract with Holiday on Ice. Some estimate she keeps 20%, the rest going to East German sports authorities. But Witt said she has no plans to sign with a U.S.-based agent, as Soviet tennis player Natalia Zvereva did when she signed with ProServ.

“I’m not a professional sports athlete now,” Witt said. “I think I’m an artist.”

Ringo was taken: Witt has a boyfriend named Ingo Politz, who is a drummer in a rock band.

“Not a rock band like crazy music,” she said. “It’s more softer music, nice music. He doesn’t have long, long hair.”

Trivia time: Who was the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500? The first to win consecutive 500s?

He’s no wookie: His name is Garth Jax and if that sounds like the kind of football player Darth Vader would love, then the Force is with you.

An example of Jax’s football philosophy: “I want to kill whoever is in my way.”

Like football, do you Garth?

Jax, a free agent originally signed and let go by Dallas, signed with the Phoenix Cardinals in March as a linebacker and special-teams player.

“I get pleasure out of hitting people and inflicting pain,” he said. “I like to see guys go down and go ‘Oooooh’ when the breath goes out of them.”

History lesson: It has been nearly 25 years since a front-engine car won the Indianapolis 500. Rear-engine race cars have won every Indianapolis 500 since 1965, when Jimmy Clark led all but 10 of the 200 laps.

A. J. Foyt, who won in a supposedly obsolete front-engine roadster in 1964, had the pole position in 1965 but lost the lead to Clark in the first turn.

Foyt regained the lead on the second lap, but that was the last time any other driver but Clark led the race except when Clark was in the pits.

Trivia answer: Louie Meyer was the first three-time winner with victories in 1928, ’33 and ’36. Wilbur Shaw was the first driver to win consecutively, in 1939 and ‘40, and those victories also made him a three-time winner. He also had won in 1937.

Get Al Jr. a bike: Al Unser won his fourth Indy 500 in 1987 and is the last driver to have won consecutive races, in 1970 and ‘71, but he could have had an unprecedented three in a row.

In 1969, he had what might have been the fastest car at the Speedway, but while driving around the track grounds on a motorcycle, he fell and suffered a broken leg, forcing him to miss the race that year.

Jordan has already been: A basketball flown aboard the shuttle Discovery was donated to the Basketball Hall of Fame by astronaut Robert C. Springer, who said the idea to take the red, white and blue ball into space was a great way to capture the imagination.

Quotebook: “Daily News, we have nothing to say to you. You started this whole thing.” Claud Mills, father of basketball player Chris Mills and alleged recipient of the $1,000 payment from the University of Kentucky, the reporting of which in the Los Angeles Daily News touched off the investigation leading to sanctions against the school.